Texts are a product of the cultural context in which they are produced, therefore they often present a critique of that society's moral and social values. Texts of a certain era will frequently reflect the moral and social values of the time. The Great Gatsby was penned in America in the Jazz Age, a period of great hedonism that reflects people's determination to forget the suffering and losses of the First World War. In America …showed first 75 words of 911 total…

…showed last 75 words of 911 total…was speeding along in Gatsby's car). The Great Gatsby examines the way in which the American ideal of realizing individual destiny, and the optimism and energy fundamental to this ideal, have become debased and confused with the pursuit of wealth. This is, in effect, an abridged critique of society's moral and social values in the Jazz Age of 1920s America, and it is clearly a product of the cultural context in which it was produced.